


for Burton (get sober)

by dadcap



Category: The Expanse (TV)
Genre: Angst and Drama, Developing Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29273424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dadcap/pseuds/dadcap
Summary: Dani is an Earther and a last-year journalism student. Once an activist, concerned about her planet and its people, she is starting to feel dragged down by the feeling of helplessness and monotony. Until she's forced to flee her home, and her way unsuspectingly intertwines with the Rocinante's crew, especially with that of Amos Burton. He teaches her to adapt to a life she thought she would never see, yet alone live. Might she get to write the best story of her life - a story about the real war and... him?
Relationships: Amos Burton/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	1. falling stars

“ _The Gates – I wonder what they are,_

_A trace of God gnawed in the fabric of space and time,_

_Or a creation of an unperfect mind like that of mine._

_We roan in the ruins of our creators,_

_Between sharp shadows of their skeletons_.”

“All works have been only about the Gates,” Dani turned her head away from the guy citing his lines on a small stage in the corner of the room and looked at her friend next to her.

“Yeah, it’s the new hot stuff,” Jacob didn’t turn his eyes away from the performer.

“It’s shit. And the one before it was shit, just like the very first one,” Dani didn’t move her stare away from him, and, after a while, Jacob tilted his head towards her and brushed his almost shoulder-length hair away from his face with a quick motion of his hand.

“At least it replaced the cheap attempts to copy almost-half-of-millennium old Nietzschean ideas that no one here truly understands.”

“I thought you liked those.”

“Yeah, no. Most of them are freshmen’s babblings about childhood traumas. Shut up, you’re kids, did your mom asked you to shave extra potatoes for lunch and so now you want to pour your hate on all poor gods ever created. All philosophy that could be written is already written. Our century is doomed to chew and vomit out things created by those before us,” Jacob raised his beer bottle to his face, his mustache almost touching the rim of the bottle. “And _Culo de caballo_ is a fucking Olympus of all these kids showing their works down everyone’s throat, and we gladly swallow them down with beer. I’ve always fucking loved this place,” He added and took a swig from his bottle. “Wow, sorry, Dan, I’m little not myself today...”

 _Culo de caballo_ was perhaps the most popular place for students to hang out in Malaga. Five things described the pub perfectly: low prices, raw music, wet beer pong tables, open-mic evenings, and a collection of vintage flags from the times about which her great-grandmother Elisa was telling stories up until her death, but everyone thought great-grandmother Elisa’s brain was dissolved by Alzheimer’s, and no one believed her. “ _She would have liked this place_ ” Dani remembered thinking when she had walked into _Culo de caballo_ for the first time. She couldn’t remember much about great-grandmother Elisa, but she knew she would have liked the pub because she didn’t like their house in a small town near New York, where Dani’s mother had brought great-grandmother to live with them two years prior to her death. Dani furrowed her eyebrows when an image of her old home appeared in her head uninvited.

“...‘Ma,’ I say, “This is not like us fixing cars years ago.” And she just screams at me, ‘Jacob, you puta, you think you’re better than me? You underestimate my abilities?’ She doesn’t even want to try to understand that things don’t work that way- Hey!”

The girl was woken up out of her thoughts when Jacob snapped his fingers at her face.

“Are you here?”

“Mhm... Sorry...” She searched his eyes, trying to recover what her friend has said. “I missed the last part.”

“Mama wants me to talk with Ryan, so he would find a position for her. And to Camila and Julio, too. I can’t just walk up and ask him for that! I’m already indebted to him for the rest of my life,” Jacob groaned and rubbed his temples.

“Right,” Dani knew Jacob’s family was living off basic assistance. His mother had many unregistered children and even more husbands, but they all seemed to die one after another until the woman said “ _Fuck men_ ” or something similar and decided to raise all the kids by herself. With Jacob, her oldest son, she often would repair cars and drones, until some young businessman noticed Jacob’s skills, thought Dani never heard the story of how the two met. The guy helped Jacob to create his id, invited him to work in his tech company, and covered the costs for his engineering studies. Jacob in the meantime used most of his wage to support his family. “Say that you’ll soon graduate and then bring her more money or something.”

“Nah, she wants to work for herself, that mule of a woman, and fewer and fewer clients are coming to her. If I don’t find her a job, she says I can take my dirty money and leave.”

“I don’t really know what to advise you...”

“Actually... I wanted to ask you for something... Maybe you could write this, I don’t know, a post about my mother’s business, an advertisement of some kind? Maybe then more people would start coming.”

“I don’t know, Jacob. I mean, I would gladly do that, but I don’t think the audience who reads the portal I’m working for could become her clients. I’m afraid it could draw the attention of legal institutions instead, and your mother’s home business, and the kids running around, it’s not- Well, I can’t change the law, as much as I wanted to.”

“Yeah...” Jacob adjusted the cap on his head a little. “Guess you’re right. Haven’t thought about that. Forget it, Dan, you already helped. I felt frustrated, couldn’t hold it for myself anymore. You’re good at this, you know. Letting people open their hearts while you listen. I’ll come up with something myself, after all, I’ve been living with that woman all my life.”

She smiled a little. “I dozed off in the middle of your rant.”

“Sometimes that’s what just I need. The other person to stay silent while I spill myself out... I mean-.”

“Yeah, Jacob, I get it,” Some people in the pub started clapping and Dani turned her attention to the stage. Pub’s visitors were supporting the creator they wanted to win with their applauses. The winner was soon decided; the event ended and the pub started paying its usual music. Dani turned back to Jacob and after she had sipped on her beer she said. “I wanted to tell you something as well...”

“Sure, go on.”

“Hm," She "cleared her throat. "I have to write an analytical article or an interview for this one course.”

“Of course, Dan, I’ll give you an interview. We have half the night left, ask away,” Jacob swirled his drink around the bottle a little before taking a gulp of it.

“Mhm... I’m flying home tomorrow. To New York.” She said while scratching her nose ring. “I’ll be staying there for about a month.”

Her friend glanced at her through the side of his bottle.

“Okay, and you were planning to tell me when?”

“Right now,” she lowered her arm and laid it on the table. “Actually, I wouldn’t have come otherwise.”

“Eat Martian’s ass, Dan,” The guy snorted and downed what remained of his beer. “You’re going home after what, three-four years, to write an article for a class? Didn’t have to the last time you busted your dad’s committee.”

“No, it doesn’t have to do anything with dad this time... It’s not about him at least. He’s just going to take me to the Parliament to follow him around; I will probably write something about the changes in the political arena. If I’m lucky, I might get to interview our newly elected star Gao,” She replied quickly and smirked at the last part, but Jacob’s intense stare didn’t change; he just blinked several times in silence, and she couldn’t tell whether he’s deep in thoughts or just stoned.

“...So, you’re reconciled now? You and your father.”

Dani lowered her head and fixed her gaze on her almost empty beer bottle.

“No. I’ve just been thinking a lot about this lately, reflecting myself, you know. Don’t get me wrong, I still think he’s a fuckin’ scumbag, but...” Her voice became less audible with every word; the loud music and people’s chatter in the background overshadowing her words. “It’s just this thought; it has been growing inside me for a year or so. At work, we’re writing about careerism in politics, about unemployment, about climate, and all other global problems, but those people who write this, my colleagues, most of them don’t give a damn about the things they write about. They just repeat the same tropes to make more posts, and the journalistic research is taking its last breaths. I’m not that stupid, I get it, people need to make a living. I get it too well, because now when I’m living off myself... I understood how hard it is. And scarier than I thought. And you know... I feel like I was such a fuckin’ child, screaming about abstract problems without any experience of life. I’m angry at my father for not using his political authority for ‘the greater good’, while everything I have is because of him. Fuck, I can even write only because he paid for my education, and he paid for the uni even though the thought my profession is shit...”

“This isn’t about the article, is it?”

“It is...” She started fiddling with her rings. “This is only about the article because I need to get through this shit of the last year. But I guess I’m curious, too. Curious how I would feel back home. And maybe I will get reminded who I don’t want to become and... Get a new wave of inspiration for my work...” She felt ashamed saying this, that she feels like she’s losing her motivation, even to Jacob. Dani thought about the article her friend mentioned; she had written it several years ago applying for her current position at an inspiring company. At that time, her father had moved from his usual field of interplanetary affairs and was temporarily chairing the Social Affairs and Labor committee. He tried to push a law through that should’ve centralized the apparatus that distributed the basic assistance, and Dani couldn’t miss her chance to write about how such action could result in the laundering of money. As if her fortune was smiling on her, news started going around that her dad was also one of the politicians who sought to minimalize the percentage of UN’s budged intended for the basic assistance. “ _I want what this mf is smoking_ ,” she recalled Jacob’s comment when media laid their hands on such talks in the Parliament. “I could never match your level of hatred towards him, anyway.” She added and put on a small smile.

“Yeah, ‘cuz he _is_ a scumbag. You shouldn’t feel obliged to him or sorry for hating him. But if you’ve managed to find peace in your relationship with your father and feel better about this, then I’m happy for you. Also, we should get another round,” The guy pointed with his head at her empty beer bottle. “You need it.”

Dani sighed. The conversation made her more uncomfortable and wearier than she thought, and this shouldn’t had happened, because she never idealized her relationship with her family, and wasn’t the one to pretend that things are what they’re not, and she didn’t feel sorrowful about this, not at all.

“I think I’m gonna call it a night. Tomorrow’s flight leaves early.”

“And leave me like that, saddened and miserable, for a month? Give me at least a thought of you throwing up in front of your parents to entertain on those blue days without you. No, no, don’t roll your eyes, Dan... You really can’t go now, my new date just got here. You must meet him, tell me what you think.”

“Mirek? I’ve already met him two wee- “

“No, fuck Mirek. He’s next to the bar, see?.. The one with the orange miniskirt… His name’s Fabian, and he has the nicest ass on this forsaken system and probably behind the Ring Gates too,” Jacob ogled the other guy for a couple of moments and then stood up. “Hold on, I will go and invite him to join us. You can leave directly for the airport after the bar closes.” He said as he started searching the pockets of his jacket for his wallet.

“Jacob, I can’t, and you just gonna flirt all- “

“I’m buying. Margaritas.”

\---

Dani splashed some cold water on her face, rubbed her eyes and cheeks with her hands until they felt hot, and glanced at her reflection in a mirror. Her eyes were small and red from tiredness, and her frizzy curls were messier than usual.

“Fuck. You. Jacob,” Dani murmured and started collecting her hair and tying it into a ponytail to look at least a little more acceptable.

Flying wasn’t on her list of most fun things to do, and especially when her head felt like cotton wool, to begin with. She remembered her older brother William often calling her out for that when he wanted her to go jogging with him. He would say something in the lines of “ _what kind of journalist you’re going to be if you can’t go to space. You need to train your body, Dan_ ,” and she would fling her sneakers on and tie her ponytail up, her cheeks flushed with anger and frustration, and go running with him. Later she came up with a great reply that there’re enough problems to write about on this green land, but her brother was already studying at the Military Academy and would rarely return home.

“We’ll start landing in New York in ten minutes, please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts,” Stewardess announced over the PA system.

Dani took a last look at the mirror and exited the bathroom. The moment she sank into her seat she felt a buzz in a pocket of her pants. She took her hand terminal and a message from her mom flashed in front of her eyes.

“ _Waiting for you outside. I’m with the old yellow Toyota, you’ll see me :)_ ”

She could feel the plane starting to land vertically and leaned more into her seat. It landed softly with a little bounce and its electric motors started slowly shutting down. People were already collecting their belongings and walking towards the exit.

“Thank you for flying with our airlines. We wish you a nice day and hope to see you soon.”

Dani waited for the aisle to clear out a bit, before throwing her coat on, picking her satchel and suitcase up, and following the remaining passengers to the exit. The plane was connected to the terminal with a jet bridge and it didn’t take her long to go through the customs. She had to squint her eyes for a moment once she stepped out of the airport building; the sun was shining in the pale sky, and a chill of an early winter’s morning made her regret that she hadn’t put on tights under her linen pants.

“Dani!” The girl heard a familiar voice and turned her still squinted eyes towards the parking lot, where her mother was standing and waving. Dani fixed the strap of her satchel, which was sliding off her shoulder, and headed towards the woman. Mom met her halfway with a hug and swayed her in her embrace.

“Oh, Dani, it’s been a while. Look at you, all kissed by the sun. Come on, I will help you. You go sit in the car. I picked up a black coffee while I was waiting for you, you can have it,” Her mom winked and took Dani’s luggage from her.

The younger woman nodded with a deadpanned expression. Sure, she could use some coffee. It’s only that she expected her state to be less obvious. Dani got comfortable in the passenger seat and took the cup out of the holder. She blew and sipped on the hot beverage, then looked through the rear mirror at her mom struggling with the trunk of the car.

“You sure you don’t need help out there?” She shouted.

“No, no, I’m fine; It’s. Just. The. Trunk. It’s. Overloaded. And won’t close automatically, there, it’s good now,” The woman ran over to the driver’s seat and sat down. “So...” She pressed their set home address on the car’s control panel, and the vehicle started moving slowly. “...You had a send-off party yesterday?” She looked at Dani with a smile, obviously waiting to hear something exciting.

“Just me and my friend, Jacob; we went to the local student’s pub to grab some beer. I had only one. And a margarita. Only one as well. After that, I left him with his date. I blame food poisoning, we had some mozzarella sticks, those damned things were charred, but I was so hungry I ate most of them... Or it’s the old age,” Dani murmured the last part.

“Mhmm,” The older woman hummed.

“Just don’t start scoffin’ me. My head is already filled with shit.”

“You know, in Danish, there’s a word for this-”

“Oh, right, here we go...”

“Tømmermænd. Literally translated it means ‘carpenters’. It’s funny to think that Danish speaking people refer to hangover headaches as a carpenter working in their head.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve lived with you for twenty years,” Dani commented, and the other woman replied with a small smile.

The girl leaned deeper into her seat and looked through the window at the view passing by. They reached a highway, and the car increased its speed; the skyscrapers were soon left behind their back.

“Anyway... How are things?” She turned back to her mother.

“Well, your brother is on a tour of duty on a ship patrolling between Jupiter and Saturn. He called me yesterday, said everything was nice and calm. It’s amazing how I receive more calls from Jupiter’s orbit than from Malaga.”

Dani shrugged at her mom’s comment. “William isn’t studying and writing articles for a local portal so that he would have what to eat. All day he’s just looking at dots on a screen.”

“You know that you can always ask us for help, financial or other. We would be more than happy to support you- “

“I’m not discussing this again. Actually, I-” She was about spill her plans to take a loan and return the money her father had spent for her studies. This way, she thought, there would be nothing left tying her with him, she could cut off their communication completely and then wouldn’t feel this unexplainable feeling of remorse gnawing deep inside her. She knew that her parents would realize the motive behind such action. She also knew that at least her mother would be hurt; even though she didn’t have much to do with this. Maybe for this reason or her already shitty state, she decided to bite her tongue for once and not to make the conversation feel like a chat with a stranger, who sat down next to you on a long journey with a bus. She looked at the woman; a sunray went past the window and onto her mother's face, warming her chestnut-colored eyes. “Whatever.”

“I just wanted to make sure you haven’t forgotten you’re not alone and don’t have to lift life’s challenges all by yourself.”

“Yeah,” Dani didn’t add anything, just sipped on her coffee.

Her mother went silent for several moments, then seemed to remember Dani’s question, “Oh, and your aunt Jordana; she’s doing great. She’s bought another meat growing laboratory; the business is booming. And your cousin – I bet you couldn’t recognize him, well, I can’t at least – he’s thinking of connecting his future with politics. He’ll do an internship at your father’s next summer.”

“He has always been a smart boy indeed.”

“Mhm.”

Dani took another sip of her coffee, “But how are _you_?” She asked.

“...More or less the same as always. At the university, I and Rita have started a new research project. And at the ministry... Oh, you remember my long-time friend Matthew Collins? Now he’s the Minister of Culture and Education.”

“The one dad stole you from?”

“No-o,” The woman chuckled. “I and Matty were just good friends since high school. Anyway, he asked me to be his personal translator, and I accepted his offer. Actually, this Thursday General Secretary Gao and a lot of ministers are flying to a conference in the South Asian trade zone. Matthew wants me to go. So sadly, I’ll have to miss being with you for several days.”

“Sounds spicy to me,” Dani smirked, and her mother answered with a shook of her head. “Baths and back massages.”

“Oh gosh, stop it, Dan,” The woman furrowed her eyebrows and tried to imitate an offended tone but couldn’t hold her smile. “It’s a super formal business meeting.”

“Right, you’re more of a brains-are-sexy type. Debates and wine, then.”

“Sadly, that’s where Matty would lose. Your father has always been the brainy one.”

“Eh, but dad’s a hardcore diplomat. While Matty is a man of culture.”

They shared a small laugh together before silence fell between them again, and Dani slowly finished drinking her coffee.

“You haven’t asked anything about your father,” Her mother noted after some time.

“Guess I will ask him when we get home,” She responded flatly, an immediate flash of annoyance hitting her.

“You won’t. Past couple of months have been hard for him work and stress-wise. Since Gao was elected, there has been a lot of changes in the Parliament, several ministers have already been fired. The Ministry and committees related to interplanetary relations are especially under the magnifying glass,” The woman went silent for a second, then spoke again, “Harry has been working a lot, only coming back home from New York in the weekends. I don’t think he won’t return sooner than Friday this week as well.”

“... Does this mean he can lose his job?”

“Maybe. Gao shares some of your political views, so that’s concerning.”

The girl went lost in her thoughts. She had heard that more than ever politicians were fired, but it was on the news, and it was distant. Now, when her mother had confirmed this, she realized that the changes she was wishing to happen for so long were real and close to home. This should’ve been her moment, but she couldn’t put her mind on what was she feeling, and some distant worry was clawing inside her for some reason and feeding off itself, as she felt unsettled by the thoughts of it and where it had come from.

“Oh, Dani, I don’t want to think about this. Especially when you’re back. Let’s have a nice evening together, with cake, wine, and everything.”

\---

“This is great,” Said Dani and immediately covered her mouth after some crumbs had fallen out of it.

“Thank you,” Her mom smiled. “One of my colleagues gave me this recipe.”

The girl raised her eyes from a piece of chocolate cake on her fork and looked at her mother. “You’re baking? Cakes? Since when?”

The other woman’s smile grew wider. “Guess I’m getting old. Preparing to be a good grandmother for my grandchildren...”

Dani snickered and put the piece of the cake in her mouth. “Not happening. I don’t- “

“I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about your brother. He met this lovely girl at his rotation, she’s a lieutenant... Or something, I don’t know those ranks.”

“Good for him. But he had many girls before.”

“He said he will propose to her once they’re back on Earth. I want to believe he wouldn’t do that if it’s not serious.”

Dani stopped chewing for a moment. “Nah, I wouldn’t worry. Would be weird of him to break any kind of oath,” She continued to eat her slice but could feel her mom’s eyes on her.

“I feel obliged to ask you about your relationships,” Dani heard her mom’s voice.

“Don’t sweat, they’re nonexistent. I don’t have time.”

“Well... Love usually finds you in an unexpected way. And then every moment turns into a gift.”

“Mom, don’t. I’m too old for this, and you’re not good at ‘motherly talks’.”

The woman visibly signed in relief. “I hope you’ll have someone to protect and feel protected by, love someone for who they are, and be loved by someone for who you are after me and your father aren’t here anymore, but my biggest wish is for us all to get together, I don’t care whether you kids are with or without partners. Even if it’s just for one evening. I would love to do something simple together, like watch a movie. You would criticize the plotline, and Will would tell you to shut up, and your father would make the tastiest popcorns with caramel. I feel like people don’t verbalize their wishes to others enough, and then they don’t come true, so I shared mine with you. You can do anything you want with it.”

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be telling your wish to; you should tell it to the person preventing it from happening.”

“Dan...”

Her mother went silent and for several minutes the only sound in the kitchen was the clanking of forks against plates.

“I don’t want to argue with you, Dani, I don’t,” The woman broke the silence, her voice wasn’t angry or lecturing, but more of a mix between tiredness and sorrow. “But I have stopped knowing what you’re thinking since you were eleven years old, and, based on your actions, I sometimes feel that’s it’s me, that I’ve done a terrible mistake at some point.”

“Every parent does mistakes. But dad does an awful lot of them.”

“He loves you dearly, and you can deny it, but you yourself know it. When you wrote that article condemning his policy-” Dani dropped her fork, leaned back in her chair and glared at her mom, her arms crossed over her chest. “...When he saw that article, he wasn’t sad, nor mad. I would say, he was proud.”

“He always thought of my ideas as of stupid teen’s nonsensical babbling. He always had to deny everything that I held importantly. He’s a politician who’s working not for people but for himself and his small family circle. And he thinks that he can drop someone enough money and they should shut up and be thankful and happy. He never supported me emotionally. Even when I told him that I’m going to study journalism, I told him my dream, and he said, ‘journalists are illiterate idiots’,” She counted her fingers with every sentence she said.

“And he has also said, ‘these days most are afraid to speak their mind and make hard decisions. Our daughter is the best of them and will show them how work should be done’. Oh, Dani, he doesn’t hate you for your views and never thought you were stupid. He doesn’t care, you’re his daughter, not a robot. He’s proud you have your ideals and can stand by them.”

“Yeah, he always had these impossible - suffocating even - demands for others.”

“Harold is strict; I myself not always agreed with his approach to raising children, but he always wanted you kids to create good and meaningful lives for yourselves, independent from your parents. Have your own critical opinion, so you wouldn’t be controlled by authoritative voices or have to live in fear. Your farther isn’t perfect, he had done things in his life that he didn’t want to but was supposed to. But, Dani, he had thought me as well that we all as citizens have duties for this planet, and sometimes they might even be against your ideals, and their importance might seem distant and not relevant to your present goals. It takes a lot of courage to make the hard choice and take responsibility for it. And Harry always believed that those who think won’t ever be afraid or crushed by their responsibilities.”

“Well, I will have to let him down again. This means that I’m not as intellectual like him, ‘cause I’m constantly afraid. And I became so afraid that my fear is turning into this- this blank nothingness. I thought I can make the right decisions, but now I feel lost; I’m paralyzed, unable to choose. To criticize a new law minimizing basic assistance or to write what readers want to see. I’m afraid I’m losin’ myself... Maybe I just want to be controlled by others, a carefree crew in a system, ‘cause otherwise I might get crushed like you say,” Dani had no intentions sharing the doubts that were haunting over her lately with her mother, but she couldn’t shut her mouth at this point. It was hard confessing this to her, much harder than to Jacob, but at the same time, she felt like she was breathing her worries out with every word.

“Dan... It’s completely normal to feel fear. Or feel like you’re powerless and at that moment don’t know what to do. Or feel like things that took you so long to build are slipping through your hands and a realization comes to you that you can’t change some people and they don’t even want to hear your voice. No, the fear I’m talking about is the fear when you see that you weren’t thinking for yourself, weren’t following your inner self but became somebody else’s manipulative toy, and don’t have freedom of choice anymore. And this really hasn’t happened to you, it’s apparent from your words. You’ll never run away from responsibilities. You’re still young, bigger or smaller, they will come to you trying to crush you. And a lot of people will try to use you. But I’m calm knowing they won’t succeed. I don’t know how much of this is your father’s or mine input, but you’ve grown into a strong-willed and thoughtful person. Of course, there’s always room to improve...”

Dani fixed her gaze on the crumbs of the cake on her plate. A lump formed in her throat but at the same time, she felt relieved. At the same time, her mind couldn’t come to forgiving her father because she felt like by doing so, she would give up on the things she used to believe so strongly and lose herself completely.

“Can we open the wine bottle now?” Dani spoke silently.

\---

“It’s nonsense that I can’t go with you,” Dani said as she helped her mother to lift her luggage into the car’s trunk.

“It’s truly unfortunate. I’ve asked Matty, told him about your course work, but he said that all seats in the aircrafts are strictly booked for politicians and their staff. There are no free numbers at the hotel we’re staying at as well.”

Dani closed the trunk and turned to her mother. “That’s all, you’re ready to go.”

“Thank you,” Mom hugged her tightly. “Your dad will come home tomorrow. If you feel like breaking plates, please lock yourself up in your room,” She joked teasingly.

“I’ll try,” Dani smiled and hugged her back.

Her mother squeezed her one more time. “Take care,” She said, letting the girl go, and hurried to sit in her car.

“Hey, mom?” She shouted after the woman.

“Yeah?”

“Do you still have that chocolate cake recipe? Can you send it to me?”

The woman smiled. “Sure, Dan.”

“Have a nice trip!” Dani shouted as her mom closed the car's doors behind her. She stood outside until the Toyota disappeared on a corner; her hand terminal buzzed announcing a message with the cake’s recipe.

\---

On Friday morning Dani was thinking how interesting it is that the mind sometimes entangles a certain image with a certain feeling or habit. She had woken up with a beating heart and a thought that she’s late for school. She yawned still a little confused and frowned from the sun rays hitting directly at her face.

Dani slowly left her room still yawning and went down the stairs to grab something to eat. In the kitchen, her dad was sitting alone at the dining table, eating leftover lunch and watching something on a tv. Noticing her movement, he turned his head towards her, fixed his round glasses, and smiled conservatively. Dani just stood in one place, lost, until she realized that she needs to say at least something.

“Good morning.”

“Good afternoon.” Her dad said casually and turned his attention back to the tv.

“ _That’s it?_ ” Dani thought, both relieved and angry with the encounter. Very rarely in Malaga and more often in the past several days she had played in her head how this meeting would go and always imagined her father either not even looking at her or giving her a harsh lecture. But here Harold F. Cooper continued to munch on his steak like any usual day when she was living with them, while she was standing in one place like a frozen statue. Dani scoffed and walked towards the cupboards, opened one of them, and grabbed the first mug nearby. She placed it in the coffee machine and pressed the button for a latte.

“You’re home quite early.”

“It’s Friday,” Her dad answered, “and with the most important politicians gone to the East Asian trade zone, there wasn’t much work at the Parliament today.”

“Ohh.” She took the mug and blew on the beverage, then turned towards her farther. “So yo- “

“We’re interrupting all television programs with an emergency broadcast. An asteroid has crashed down in Northwest Africa. According to the latest information we have received, the shockwave has caused serious seismic activities as far as the southern part of Europe and-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Yeah, this chapter was mainly intended for getting to know Dani better; the next one will be way shorter -- I promise! And some fateful meetings are on their way-
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. aches

On that Friday afternoon, Dani was thinking about how certain images get entangled with certain memories. She was staring down at the fragments of her mug that had fallen out of her hands. Her eyes cached an image of a dog on some of the pieces. Dani recalled the distant afternoons when Will was at school and mom and dad were at work. The cartoon dog on the mug is brown and fuzzy and has a smile with freckles. He looks like their dog Chomsky. She always drinks lemonade from this mug. She also has a matching plate with bones drawn on it. She stacks one. Two. Three. Four. Five butter cookies on the plate, because that’s how old she is. She soaks one cookie in the lemonade and eats it, then takes another one. She doesn’t hear any cars in the driveway, so she puts another five cookies on her plate. Chomsky is only three years old, so he gets only three butter cookies. Now the cartoon dog’s smile was shattered in several small pieces on the hard wooden kitchen floor. Years later, when she would think back to this day, she would remember this image and that little memory from her childhood with great clarity. Whereas the next several hours seemed covered with haze, with clearer details emerging here and there. But these recollections felt more like someone else’s retelling of something she did as a baby or drunk when she couldn’t remember any of the things happening and most importantly what she was thinking or feeling, and the memory would seem distant and not hers. Maybe it was like this because that day her thoughts were rushing in hundreds at a time, each one too heavy to bear. Maybe it was a good thing that they were forever lost in the deep seas of her unconsciousness.

Her father shouted at his terminal, then gripped her shoulders and shook her lightly. She stuttered something about having to go to Malaga, and her dad said that New York is flooding. She stood there in shock and watched on the news as the megapolis was being devoured by water; no, she ran to the front door and grabbed her coat. Her father said that she can leave by herself, but no one would take her to Malaga. He also said she had ten minutes to change from her pajamas and pack the most important things and meet him outside. He refused to answer where they are going and said he would tell on their way. She was in her room. She couldn’t grip the zipper of her suitcase; she saw her hands were trembling. Her father called for her downstairs. The last view of her old room she could remember was her unmade bed.

Her dad met her at the front door and took her suitcase, quickly carrying it to the trunk of his car. She started putting on her boots.

“Hey, Cooper!”

She heard their neighbor greeting her father. The man started asking why the protective systems didn’t work, were the reporters right saying there can be a shortage of supplies for settlements surrounding New York, had her father seen the floods, and her dad was giving short, hurried replies. He called her father a lucky bastard when the latter told him he was already home when the flood hit New York, and Dani couldn’t believe how relaxed the man’s tone was like he was talking about acid rain on Venus.

“So, what do you think, should we storm the stores?”

“You see…” her dad said while fitting his only briefcase into the trunk. “In case there’s any shortage of supplies or power, the humanitarian help will be deployed…’ he pressed on his hand terminal and the trunk started closing. “Dani!” he shouted, and she quickly finished tying her second shoe and rushed up to the car.

“Oh, the young lady is here. Long time no seen, Dan,” the neighbor smiled at her. She answered with a quick nod. “How’re your studies? You’ve probably finished them, haven’t you?”

“I-I’m in my last year.”

The man grinned and raised his thumb at her, “Soon we’ll see you reporting from a studio.”

“Get in the car,” her dad gestured towards the open door of the passenger seat. She quickly got inside the vehicle and closed the door behind her. She could hear the two men’s muffled voices and turned around in her seat to look at them. Her father walked up to the other side of the car and opened the door of the driver seat.

“Rick, get your family inside the house, take your rifle and wait for the humanitarian help,” she could now clearly hear his words.

The other man rubbed his forehead, his expression changing into the one of shocked surprise in a beat. “Shit, Coop. It’s serious?”

Her dad didn’t answer anything, just climbed into the car.

“Hey... You think you could talk with someone up there? Make sure the supplies reach us, you know. Tell them your longtime friend’s askin’.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” her father answered briefly while entering the destination address with quick motions of his hand. Richard was still saying something, but his words were silenced when dad slammed his door, and the car started moving. Once they were out of the driveway, he increased the speed above the allowed limit.

“Where are you taking your girl, Coop?”

She got startled by their neighbor’s voice, unable to make sense of why his voice sounded so clear in her ears.

\---

Her father had just pulled the car over to the parking lot near the rocket launch site when the news of the second meteorite hitting Philadelphia reached them.

“Jesus Christ... Believe me, I wish I wasn’t right... Yes, I’m at the launch site...” her dad was on a call with someone.

The caller was spilling out words in a nervous rush, and Dani couldn’t make out what they were saying. She turned on the radio and heard the reporter’s voice immediately, “Thank you... We have received the information that a second asteroid fell near Philadelphia. The city is devastated-“

Dani leaned back into her seat and looked through the window, her hand instinctively covering her mouth. The launch site was swirling with officers and politicians; she recognized some of them.

“Dani,” her father was no longer on the call. “We have to go.”

“You haven’t told me where are we going,” she was tired.

“To Luna,” he got out of the car. “Hurry up.”

Pushed by his worried demeanor, she followed him without a question and watched as he unloaded the trunk. Dad took her luggage and handed her his briefcase. They strode towards the entry of the hangars, where people were standing in several lines.

“Don’t stay behind,” he warned her and started moving to the front of one line.

“There’s a line…” she stopped in the middle of her sentence as he didn’t turn to look at her. Her father just kept moving forwards, and she followed after, her gaze fixed on her feet. Some officer stopped them at the entrance, and her father showed her his hand terminal. The officer checked his id, then asked for Dani’s. While she was scanning the terminal, Dani glanced at the people standing around: some were alone, some with families. She felt the chill of early winter’s evening crawling up her legs. The officer soon handed the terminal back to her and quickly let them through with a nod. Dani didn’t need any words to realize that public servants of a higher position and their families were being evacuated first. She thought about the people in the lines having to stand several more hours in the winter cold. Maybe they will have to wait the whole night at the hangars for another spacecraft.

“Dani,” her father turned to her and spoke quietly enough so that only she could hear him, “There might be more asteroids incoming as our security systems can’t detect them. Probably some stealth technology. I and some colleagues of mine believe we’re under attack.”

She intuitively looked back at the people standing in the lines. Her nature screamed this wasn’t fair, yet she felt so weak and scared, so she only clutched dad’s briefcase tighter and pressed on, trying to focus her mind on moving her legs and stealth technology, like her father, who seemed to be able to do this easily.

“Mars?” she asked, gulping down a lump.

“No. I wouldn’t believe it even if they declared it themselves.”

They were stopped and asked to put their baggage in a special cart.

Once they started moving towards the space shuttle, he spoke again, “This could be a conspiracy. I believe we might soon get the answer who did this.”

Her head was heavy from all the thoughts coming one after another. Only when she felt the floor of the spacecraft under her feet, she took grasp of her reality. She was being pressed by other passengers in a small space and a soldier in front of them showed where each person must sit. Something was making it hard to breathe, and she coughed, but that something stuck in her throat didn’t move. In a panic, she spun to her father.

“I can’t.”

He looked down at her, his face troubled.

“I can’t fly. I will die.”

“Don’t worry, they’ll inject you with a cocktail of meds. It’ll be terrible, but you won’t die.”

“I just won’t feel that I’m dying.”

“Dani, remember when we went on a cruise to see Saturn’s rings? You were so excited, and everything interested you. You were four then.”

She tried to cling to that memory, but she couldn’t remember much from their trip, and the fear gripped her even tighter. Her breathing became ragged, her chest feeling pressed, and this new sensation kept fueling her fear.

“Miss, please sit over there,” the soldier put his hand on her back and tried to push her gently towards the seat he was pointing at. She pushed away his arm and began shoving past people and towards the exit.

“Dani!“ her dad’s shout reached her ears, but her only thought was that she has to get outside where there was fresh air. The girl felt her arm being grasped tightly and saw the soldier’s gloved hand. He pushed her away from the doors.

“I can’t!” she tried fiddling in his grasp, but the exit was getting further.

“I need anesthetics!”

She soon felt a slight pain in her arm. People’s concerned faces started getting blurry. Her father’s chest blocked her view, he was saying something in a calm manner. She felt being sat down and strapped in the seat before her limbs relaxed and her eyes slowly closed. The only thing left in the world was the stabbing in her chest, but it soon faded out too.

\---

A sound of waves clashing reached her ears. She looked down at her feet, water swirling around and washing the sand from beneath her toes. Another wave washed past her feet, and she noticed a small jellyfish. Interested, she cupped the animal between her palms and turned to Jacob, who was walking towards the shore after a short swim.

“Look!” she reached her hands towards him, showing the squished glob in her palms.

“What is wrong with you? Are you a fucking child? Let the poor thing go,” Jacob snapped at her, slapping her hands away.

“I’ve never seen one in the wildlife,” she said, drawing her palms to her face to take a closer look at the animal.

Jacob commented something under his breath and headed towards their blanket, where Dani’s coursemate Maria was placing fruits and other snacks neatly on plates. Soon Dani released the jellyfish into the deeper waters. She grabbed a bucket with sea stones she had collected to decorate her flowerpots and followed her friend.

“What’s the fuss about?” Maria greeted them with a small smile.

“Dani wants to exterminate the last remaining animals on this planet,” Jacob replied grabbing his towel.

“It was stranded. I saved it,” she replied, sitting down next to Maria, her movement causing a handful of sand to fall on some grapes. Maria’s face flinched, and she moved the plate with the grapes away from Dani.

“Watch where you’re putting your fat ass,” Jacob threw his wet towel on Dani, but she caught it in time to avoid it slapping her face and flung it back to him.

“Fuck off,” Dani fell on her back, resting her head on her hands.

She pulled her cap down on her face. The sun felt pleasantly warm on her skin. She listened to the soft murmur of the sea, the cawing of seagulls, and Jacob gossiping to Maria about his colleagues and sharing the news that his youngest brother can already read short words. Dani closed her eyes, feeling relaxed and at peace. She was already drifting off to sleep, her surroundings becoming distant when she felt a nudge at her side. Dani moved the cap away from her face and opened one eye. Jacob was holding out a joint to her, and she sat up lazily and took it. She took a couple of short puffs, tapped the ashes off the joint, and handed it back to him.

“In one month, we’re starting our last year; have you thought about that?” Maria sighed. “What will you do after studies?”

“Master’s. Probably,” answered Dani, blowing out the last smoke.

“Don’t say hop before jumping over the fence,” stated Jacob, putting the joint between his teeth, and both girls looked at him confused. “Care about passing the winter term first,” he breathed out the smoke as he added.

“Shut up, you don’t even have to try hard,” Dani murmured, “And Ryan will promote you as soon as you have the diploma in your hands.”

“That’s because I, unlike you” he inhaled the smoke, “am unbelievably smart,” the smoke came out of his mouth as he said the last part.

Dani gave him a deadpanned look.

“Oh, Jacob, you’re getting a promotion?” Maria clapped her hands. “How amazing!”

“Mhm, Ryan wouldn’t stop babbling about that. But another junior engineer will start his master’s this autumn, and now all his talks have vanished somewhere. To Dani’s joy.”

She cached the reference and smirked. She always tried to persuade Jacob to reach for a master’s degree. “ _If I’m going through that torture again, you have to go too_ ” she wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure with your geniuses another two years will fly by unnoticed.”

“That’s what I always said,” Jacob stated, flicking the joint and passing it to Maria. “So, what do _you_ have in mind?” he asked the girl.

Maria took the joint and took a puff, “Oh, I’ll rest for a year. I’ll travel ‘round Earth,” she laid her head on Dani’s knees, her gray eyes gazing dreamily at the sky. “I get quite many messages from the readers of my blog – they’re so kind. They’ve encouraged me to reach for my dream of publishing a book. I want to write one for children on reasonable ways to deal with loneliness.”

“That’s a nice dream. You must certainly follow it,” nodded Jacob.

“Mmmhm,” Dani hummed in agreement. A gust of wind blew from the sea, caressing her hair, and she turned her head to face the waves. She felt an envious tug at her heart; she wished she were so assured of her future. “It really is.”

\---

“Tell me how you are. Anything,” Dani finished recording the message and sent it to Jacob. The past few weeks crawled by mercilessly slow. Jacob hadn’t answered any of her messages; she hadn’t found his name on numerous lists of identified casualties. The anxious feeling of the uncertainty grew in her head and in her stomach with every stretched day. The person she needed to talk to the most seemed to disappear into the water, while several people she didn’t know well from her university had contacted her; most of them had left Malaga for a less devastated place. The only good thing was that she had managed to get in touch with Maria; to her relief the girl was fine. But she didn’t know about Jacob more than her.

“When are you coming to Luna?” she had asked her friend.

“I’m staying,” Dani recalled Maria’s answer, the girl’s tone soft as usual.

“You’re sure? I can ask my dad; he should find a way to get you here.”

“No, don’t worry. I’m safe.”

Dani remembered not wanting the conversation to end so heavy. She wasn’t foolish. She knew that their lives will never be the same. But she needed to know that at least a tiny part of their not-so-distant past had remained.

“How is your book?”

“What?”

“Your book. The one you were dreaming to write. It was for children.”

“Oh, right… Sorry, I forgot, I haven’t been thinking about it… I have joined the Red Cross. They need any help one can offer.”

“Really? Then I’ll talk to dad, maybe he’ll have connections to supply you better.”

“Thank you, Dani. But there’re places where they’re doing much worse than us. They need those supplies.”

“I should be down there with you. I should be helping those in need instead of pointlessly hanging around the lunar base,” Dani had said after several moments of silence.

Maria hadn’t replied anything to that, she just smiled sadly.

_Why the fuck did I offer her dad’s help?_ Dani signed and leaned her head back on a screen above the window seat on which she was relaxing. _I’m beginning to sound a lot like him_. She had been doing nothing here but living off her father’s status. She felt like her self-respect was slowly evaporating ever since she passed those people in the line that day she evacuated Earth, and she hated herself for this. Dani turned her head and looked at a patch of Earth visible on the screen. She thought about reading in school about the tear-bringing awes and realizations of the first men on Luna after seeing the blue globe from space for the first time. She didn’t want to feel any of this; she wanted to be down there on the planet with the people she loved.

Dani heard the doors open and looked at her father entering the apartment. He murmured a greeting, dropped his jacket on a sofa, and headed towards their small kitchen. The man opened the fridge, found a box of food left from the other day’s lunch, and put it in the microwave.

“You hungry?” he broke the silence, which was starting to feel uneasy.

“I ate something,” she answered blankly.

“Great. How’s your nausea?”

“The meds aren’t really working,” she murmured.

The silence fell again, and after a while, Dani rose from the window seat and slowly walked towards the front door.

“I’m going for a walk,” she announced. Her father turned to her and was about to say something, but she added, “To get used to low gravity as you said.”

The microwave started beeping and her father turned away from her and took out his steaming dinner. She opened the door, but then turned to him again, “You need anything from the store?”

“I won’t return for lunch tomorrow,” he answered while searching for a clean fork, “but, the fridge is almost empty. Buy something for yourself. Your health won’t improve if you aren’t eating enough.”

Dani shrugged and closed the door behind her before walking off where her eyes led. Being in one room with her father had become unbearable. It was a good thing that his workload was ridiculous. He often wouldn’t return until late in the supposed evening, and then she would go to her room or anywhere else, just to avoid the crushing heaviness of unspoken words. And she felt like this wasn’t just inert anger from before, she couldn’t even name the feeling anymore. She only knew that their lives won’t ever be the same. But she needed to talk. And dad wouldn’t talk since the news reached them that her mom died aboard UN-1 when the third asteroid had fallen in the South Asian Trade Zone.

Glass smashing followed by several laughs interrupted her restless thoughts. She glanced at a group standing in a smoking booth, nudging their friend who was staring down at the shattered bottle on the ground; some smaller pieces of glass flying away. They finished whatever they were smoking and walked into the building nearby, electronic music blasting outside once they opened the doors.

“C’mon, Jeff, stop arsing about,” one of them grabbed their still lost friend by the lapel of his jean jacket and dragged him after them. Dani approached the doors through which the group had disappeared and raised her eyes. _Opium_ was written in neon blue letters, and she could perfectly see what was happening inside the bar through its high windows. The walls were decorated with neon flamingos, and several dance poles were installed, thought vacant at that moment. Completely not her vibe. A group of three people cached her eyes suddenly; their battered looks stood out from the other visitors. One man had his broad back turned to her, the second guy was smaller and had a short hand. The woman sitting next to the second guy had long dark hair and seemed very familiar. Dani squinted her eyes and walked closer to the window.

“Go inside or get out of the way!“ she heard an annoyed voice behind her and some man nudged her towards the entry.

Confused, she quickly entered the bar, the other man following right behind her. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked around, the loud beats surrounding her; the other visitor behind her scoffed, walked past her, and went to sit at the counter. Dani found the trio with her eyes. Now she could see the woman’s face better and she was certain she had seen her somewhere but couldn’t yet recall where. Maybe she could have one drink. She also needed to occupy her mind with something. Dani found a vacant bar stool and soon a bartender walked up to her.

“Kriek,” she shouted.

The bartender nodded, turned around, quickly found the beer she asked for, opened the cap of the bottle with a swift motion, and passed it to her, all the while moving in the rhythm of the music. Once she took out her hand terminal and paid for the drink, he walked away, and she turned around in her chair to look at the trio. Dani had all her mind focused on the woman; the memory was there, but she couldn’t grasp it. _Probably just seen her on some tv show or something_ , she thought and sipped her kriek. The girl turned the bottle in her hands and read the label. The beer tasted somewhat different. Maybe it was her senses, not yet used to the lunar gravity… _What are you doing?_ she could feel a lump rising in her throat. She was sitting in a bar, stalking some strangers, while people she loved were on Earth either dead, or gone, or hurting. She wanted to be with them and to drink her beer with them; she would say today is a special night and they’re going to a fancier bar than the local students’ pub. Or to anywhere else on Earth, she didn’t care, as long as they would be there. She knew that their lives will never be like they used to, but it didn’t stop her from wanting them to return.

Dani blinked several times and took another sip of her drink to wash the lump away. She didn’t want to stay here any longer. She took another sip. She will finish the beer and then go to some store and buy something for tomorrow’s lunch. She gulped down the rest of the drink as quickly as she could and left it on the counter. But first, she needed to go to the bathroom. She looked around and spotted two men walking out the doors in a far corner of the room, wc was written above the entry. She headed towards the bathroom and locked up in the first open stall. Once finished, she quickly left the stall, and went to wash her hands, all the while trying to focus her mind on what to buy for lunch. The door of another stall opened, and someone walked up to her side and started pumping the soap dispenser, apparently hoping for some soap to come out. The water stopped running, and Dani raised her eyes at a mirror to fix her hair; that’s when she noticed the same woman next to her, her black hair tossed behind her shoulders. The stranger raised her head and their eyes met for a brief moment in the reflection until Dani quickly lowered hers. She turned the sink back on and put her hands under the stream again. She took another couple of careful looks at the woman; in the brightly lit bathroom she could see her face perfectly, but her mind seemed more blank than before. _It would be easier if you would stop being a creep and just greet her. Maybe she’s from the university? Maybe she knows something more about the situation in Malaga?_ her thoughts rushed, but she shook them off. She didn’t want to talk to her directly, but not for the same reason for which she would hide behind the watermelons after seeing someone from her classes she rarely talked with at a store. It was some bad feeling about the woman that didn’t let go of her. While she couldn’t decide what to do, the stranger dried her hands on the sides of her jeans and walked out of the bathroom with quick small steps. _Whatever_ , she thought. The sink turned off again and Dani walked into one of the stalls and grabbed some toilet paper to dry her hands. Once she was out of the bathroom, the woman was already at her table, the two other men were rising from their seats. The trio started putting on their outwear and leaving the bar. Dani waited for the doors to close behind them before following, and once she stepped outside, she looked around to see if there were any stores nearby. A blunt force suddenly pushed her away and into a small alley, and a body pressed her to a wall. Shocked, she looked at the hands holding her by the shoulders.

“Amos! I didn’t mean this, let her go,” Dani heard a feminine voice and looked over the man’s shoulder as best as she could. She saw what she expected to see – the same black-haired woman. The third guy stood beside the woman with his hands crossed over his chest. She noticed he also had a limp in one leg.

“Who hired you?” Dani heard the man holding her almost growl, his breath smelling of good alcohol, and she raised her eyes to look at his face. He was the one whose face she couldn’t see before, but she recognized his sturdy physique.

Hadn’t she drunk that one bottle of beer so fast, she would have created a good excuse or a more compelling lie than what she said, “I work at _El grito_ ” she met his intense stare, which was demanding for more answers, and felt that if he wanted, he could press her way much harder. Had she drunk more than that one bottle of beer, she would have liked it. “It’s a news portal – our primary goal is to inform the public about the problems connected to poverty, climate change, violations of human rights-“

“Great, Clarissa, you killed the party over some journalist,” she heard the other man scoff and noticed him roll his eyes.

“How could I know... Amos, let her go. I think it’s safe to say she’s harmless.”

Dani furrowed her eyebrows. _Clarissa? Clarissa. Clarissa…_ She repeated the name in her head. _Clarissa Mao!_ The realization hit her, and she recalled seeing the woman’s face many times on the news together with the rest of the shit that had returned from the Ring Gates. Clarissa Mao, the daughter of the crazed protomolecule guy, who herself tried to follow her father’s footsteps, and who had to spend the rest of her days locked up in the highest security prison in the North American Trade Zone.

“You’re chilling with an interplanetary-level criminal,” Dani noted. Ba dum tsss. For a moment she felt proud with herself – her journalistic suspicion hadn’t fooled her. She herself was surprised she managed to be so gleeful while surrounded by what she could assume were a group of escaped prisoners.

“What, there’s nothing else for you to write about? News of thousands of deaths sure aren’t that much spicy,” the guy whose party had been killed spoke again.

“Amos...” Clarissa took a step closer towards the two of them.

She felt the man’s grip slowly loosen before he stepped back and looked at Clarissa. Dani didn’t move, while the trio chatted something between themselves. _Someone’s under the heel_ , a thought appeared in her mind, and she quickly glanced at their faces to see if she hadn’t blurted it out loud, but the trio had already started walking off, disappearing around the corner. Only then she felt the nervous tension in her muscles, and she had to lean back on the wall.

“You’re coming?” she flinched a little when she saw the guy with the limping leg peek his head from around the corner. Dani thought she didn’t hear him correctly.

“Wha..?”

“I couldn’t finish my drink because of you. You have to pay that off.”

Rarely she didn’t know how to respond. Suddenly Dani felt like she was back in high school, and her classmate had asked her why she could never hit the ball over the net when playing volleyball.

“Are you waiting for the damn glaciers to freeze back up? Hey, okay, we-I mean, Clarissa, is sorry for scaring you. You might get your story – we have a good one. About the promised supplies not reaching those that need them the most. Take it as an apology. And, I mean, anyone could use a drink after being confronted by Amos.”

_Scaring? I looked scared?_

“I- Aaaaa...” all her snarky remarks had abandoned her without any pity.

“If you have something better to do just say.”

_Yes,_ she had to go to a store and buy something for lunch. But she also needed to talk. With anyone. Probably that’s why she shut her mouth and followed the man.

“For a journalist, you really aren’t that quick with words.”


End file.
